Selling the Poor for a Pair of Shoes

Ranchers take a pretty good read of the land – and when grazing lands grow dry they think hard about the implications. Amos was a rancher who thought hard and prayed hard. In his day, 200 years after King David, Israel was a fractured nation, split into north and south. Both were prosperous and religious, and they credited God with their prosperity.

But Amos recognized that their religion had very little effect on their ethics. While the wealthy were making money hand over fist, it was largely at the expense of the poor. They would “sell the needy for a pair of sandals” Amos 2:6.